Great British Chefs is a team of passionate food lovers dedicated to bringing you the latest food stories, news and reviews.

Turkey. Goose fat potatoes. Parsnips. Figgy pud. After a while, it can all get a bit boring and predictable, can’t it? You can brine, barbecue or baste the bird; experiment with different cooking techniques for your spuds and change up your gravy game, but at the end of the day it’s still pretty much the same meal.

So if you’re growing a bit weary of a traditional Christmas dinner, don’t just shrug your shoulders and joylessly spend another year hacking away at a dry turkey big enough to feed an army. Instead, turn the occasion on its head and cook a feast that draws on all the incredible ingredients and flavours from other parts of the world. It might raise a few eyebrows, but the second your family gives it a try they’ll have forgotten all about the Christmas dinners of yesteryear.

Canapés

Whether it’s for a Christmas Eve shindig or you’re really going all-out on the big day, canapés are one of the easiest ways to show off a few flourishes of technical skill. Robin Gill takes the traditional smoked salmon and combines it with umami-filled powdered nori before sandwiching it between two thin discs of wafer-thin mooli radish. Vineet Bhatia puts turkey inside a delicious little pastry parcel, filling it with spices and pine nuts before deep-frying and serving it with a cheffy swoosh of vibrant beetroot mayonnaise. And for something completely different, food-matching genius Peter Coucquyt serves fresh raw oysters with lychees, thickened coconut cream and rose petals – it might sound weird, but trust us, somehow it works.

Cocktails

A festive tipple raises everyone’s spirits, but instead of bloating beer, sleep-inducing wine or that most divisive of drinks eggnog, try an interesting cocktail instead. Ren Behan’s classic Polish Krupnik will knock any other mulled drink out of the park – served hot, this combination of vodka, honey, spices and butter is just the ticket for Christmas.

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a mixologist, then Anna Hansen has two cocktails that we can guarantee you won’t have come across before. Her tonka bean sour combines whisky, tonka bean-infused Grand Marnier, egg white, lemon juice and liquorice bitters, while her turmeric margarita is a stunning golden yellow, with plenty of sweetness thanks to the acacia honey.

Starters

On to the proper, sit-down dinner now – but don’t expect smoked salmon with blinis or a seasonal soup. Agnar Sverrisson puts his Scandi credentials on display with his dish of prawns with sorrel, cucumber and rye bread, keeping things nice and light before the main dish arrives. Anna Hansen makes a mayonnaise using umeboshi (Japanese pickled plums) and stirs it through a fine venison tartare, serving it on top of a crispbread with a quail’s egg yolk – a beautiful plate of food. Greg Malouf, meanwhile, creates a very modern terrine, using chicken livers and dukkah to create a beautifully rich morsel to get the appetite going.

Mains

Ah, the main event – and just when everyone is expecting something more familiar, you bring out the roast baharat and lemon marinated lamb, complete with bright orange sweet potatoes and a striking black sesame sauce. You could also keep things vegetarian-friendly with Vivek Singh’s delightful biryani, served in a pumpkin shell for extra theatre. If your guests really are going to hit the roof unless you serve up some sort of roast bird, however, opt for Pascal Aussignac’s delightful goose – a wholly different approach to the classic that combines classical cooking techniques with more modern ingredients.

Sides

There’s no point creating a mindbender of a main if your serving up plain old boiled and roasted veg on the side. Give them the attention they deserve and take a leaf out of Scott Hallsworth’s book, who cooks florets of cauliflower in sake, yuzu juice and soy sauce. Sumayya Usmani gives good old Brussels sprouts a makeover by smothering them in saffron and pistachio-infused butter, and her roast spuds are given a warming kick thanks to cumin, coriander and plenty of black pepper.

Desserts

We’d guess most of the people around your dinner table this Christmas don’t actually like figgy pudding – and it’s usually the last thing you want at the end of a huge, gut-busting festive meal. But for some reason many of us still persevere through a bowl of the stuff (with extra-rich brandy butter dolloped on top for good measure), all in the name of tradition. Be brave and serve something different – Peter Gordon’s orange cake and coconut custard is tropical, light and very, very delicious, while Greg Malouf’s rose and buttermilk panna cotta has just the right amount of elegant wobble to get everyone excited. Christoffer Hruskova, on the other hand, pays homage to tradition in a different way, serving up the classic Ollebrod.

Fancy something different?

Want our most popular features delivered to your inbox?

Sign up to our newsletter now and we'll send you a hand-picked round-up of the best features and recipes from across Great British Chefs each week.

Email

By entering your email address above, you are agreeing to be added to our weekly newsletter database. You can find out how we store and process your data in our privacy policy and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Invalid email address

Thanks for subscribing

We'll only contact you around once per week with our best features and seasonal recipes. You can unsubscribe at any time.

You're already subscribed!

It looks like you've already signed up to our newsletter. If you have not already, why not register for an account here

Thanks for subscribing

We'll only contact you around once per week with our best features and seasonal recipes. You can unsubscribe at any time.

You're already subscribed!

It looks like you've already signed up to our newsletter. If you have not already, why not register for an account here

Load more ...

NAVIGATE

NEWSLETTER

Sign up to receive recipes, news and reviews from the UK's fastest growing food website

Email

By entering your email address above, you are agreeing to be added to our weekly newsletter database. You can find out how we store and process your data in our privacy policy and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Invalid email address

Thanks for subscribing

We'll only contact you around once per week with our best features and seasonal recipes and how to cook guides. You can unsubscribe at any time.

You're already subscribed!

It looks like you've already signed up to our newsletter. If you have not already, why not register for an account here

Thanks for subscribing

We'll only contact you around once per week with our best features and seasonal recipes and how to cook guides. You can unsubscribe at any time.

You're already subscribed!

It looks like you've already signed up to our newsletter. If you have not already, why not register for an account here

SITES

INFORMATION

NEWSLETTER

Sign up to receive recipes, news and reviews from the UK's fastest growing food website

Email

By entering your email address above, you are agreeing to be added to our weekly newsletter database. You can find out how we store and process your data in our privacy policy and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Invalid email address

Thanks for subscribing

We'll only contact you around once per week with our best features and seasonal recipes and how to cook guides. You can unsubscribe at any time.

You're already subscribed!

It looks like you've already signed up to our newsletter. If you have not already, why not register for an account here

Thanks for subscribing

We'll only contact you around once per week with our best features and seasonal recipes and how to cook guides. You can unsubscribe at any time.

You're already subscribed!

It looks like you've already signed up to our newsletter. If you have not already, why not register for an account here